London's FTSE 100 firmed 0.36% to 7,052.58 on Friday, while the FTSE 250 improved 0.53% to 23,758.83, as steadying Asian markets and a potential easing of UK travel restrictions provided the backdrop for some decent gains heading into the weekend.Airlines and other stocks whose fortunes are tied to the travel industry, including International Consolidated Airlines (IAG), TUI (TUI) and WH Smith...

London's FTSE 100 erased earlier losses on Monday to finish only slightly lower, off 0.2% at 7,032.85 points by the close.The move came as most of the UK eased coronavirus restrictions, although airlines, pubs, and restaurants all lost ground amid fears over the Indian coronavirus strain.The blue chip benchmark's intra-day recovery from its lows arose in spite of a weak start on Wall Street,...

£4BN+ MARKET CAPJD Sports Fashion (JD.) +117%Retail sector darling JD Sports Fashion (JD.) sprinted higher once again in 2019. The branded sports and casual wear purveyor stormed into the FTSE 100 on record results and consistent earnings upgrades.Like-for-like growth in the core sports fashion business was driven by the savvy mining of an athleisure boom among youthful gym-goers.Investors...

UK investors will likely spend most of Thursday morning mulling the possibilities of three central bank announcements later today. The Bank of England's news at midday has damp squib written all over it while the ECB's likely downgrade to growth estimates has already been leaked.We'll find out the facts at 12.45pm, but it is Turkey that could grab the economic headlines, also at midday, with...

The shares of 27 AIM companies have doubled or better so far in 2018. For those that don't know, AIM is the Alternative Investment Market, the junior trading platform of the stock market designed to nurture small, growth companies.While the rewards can be substantial, so are the risks, a point illustrated by Bahamas Petroleum (BPC:AIM) today. Its stock tanked more than 60% on Friday 24 August...

One of the theories behind Faron Pharmaceuticals' (FARN:AIM) shocking trial failure earlier this week is that an active version of its Traumakine drug may not have been administered to patients.Shares in Faron plummeted over 80% following its Phase III trial failure on Tuesday.'If no Traumakine was delivered, then the INTEREST trial didn't show that Traumakine didn't work as the active drug...

Shares in biopharma firm Faron Pharmaceuticals (FARN:AIM) have plummeted over 80% to 126p after its Phase III trial for its Traumakine treatment failed.Faron says Traumakine did not result in an 'increased number of ventilator-free survival days or a reduced mortality rate' when compared to a placebo. The shocking clinical trial failure flags the huge risks that small pharma companies face...

The FTSE 100 is up 0.86% to 7,583 points following strong market performances in Wall Street and Asia. There is some trepidation over President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal although so far these have not translated into market ructions.UK challenger ban Virgin Money (VM.) gains 9.8% to 343p as it confirms it has received an offer of acquisition by peer CYBG...

MARKET CAP: £1BN & ABOVE IQE +318%To call IQE's (IQE:AIM) share price run this year remarkable still understates the performance. At one stage last month the stock closed at 178.75p. The share price began the year trading at 37.75p.So why has it had an amazing run? Unconfirmed rumours that IQE's vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) technology is being used in Apple's latest iPhone...

It has been a volatile few years for the healthcare industry with several headwinds acting as a drag on performance, including the threat of drug pricing caps and healthcare reform in the US. Is life now getting better?The NASDAQ Biotech index in early October traded at its highest level since December 2015. On the UK stock market, shares in many drug makers have been in a rising trend since...

This is the second part of a three part series looking at the best performers from each of the super sectors which make up the London market.There are a total of 19 super sectors if you excluding investment companies.We have focused on companies with market caps of £100m or more - all data is taken from SharePad as at 5 Oct 2017 and refers to share price performance since the start of the...

A handful of technology stocks, a make-up supplier, a mortgage adviser and a pharmaceutical firm are among a list of smaller company shares expected perform strongly over the coming few months.The nine featured companies are highlights from a quantitative number-crunching exercise conducted by analysts at N+1 Singer.The stockbroker regularly scans the lower end of the market cap spectrum for...

JD Sports scores againRetail star turn JD Sports Fashion (JD.) has hit the back of the net again, its AGM trading statement (17 Jun) flagging a sales boost from the UEFA Euro 2016 football tournament. We flagged this as a possibility in our 'Invest in the summer of sport' feature (Cover, Shares, 2 Jun 2016). (JC)Stay cautious on CircassiaDon't be tempted to buy into the recovery rally at...

UK shares are bombed-out in early trade on Thursday after torrid sessions overnight in the US and Asia, which included a second circuit-buster halt to trading in China. Trading was halted in Beijing and Shanghai after declines of more than 7% because of the introduction of 'circuit breakers' designed to calm investor nerves.Further devaluation of China's currency and a sell-off on the...

London's blue chip index is trading 21.00 points lower early on Monday at 6,354 on negative updates from commodity and emerging market-focused members of the FTSE 100.FTSE 100 miner BHP Billiton (BLT) falls 3.9% to 776.3p after Brazilian government authorities said they would start legal proceedings against the miner and joint venture partner Vale following a devastating tailings dam breach at...